Pau's Lost Tapes
by Mariel1
Summary: Dr. Jaming and Isaac come across a box of tapes in the attic while looking for something to do on a rainy day. Years before, Pau made a brief foray into the world of vlogging...until he got bored with it, that is! Join an inventor and his son as they take a trip down memory lane.
1. Chapter 1: Discovery

"Pau's Lost Tapes"

 _Author's Note:_ _I will be getting back to 'Inventing the Future' soon, hopefully. Our house is fully repaired from when the tree fell on it a few months ago, and we're back in our rooms again! We're still going through a lot of boxes, and things are still a bit hectic, so I decided to get back into the swing of things by writing something new. Enjoy!_

"Chapter 1: Discovery"

"Another wet day..." Seven-year-old Isaac grumbled, scooping up a spoonful of cooling oatmeal and letting it fall back into his bowl with a wet 'plop'. Like his father, Jaming, he enjoyed the sound of falling rain and found it rather soothing. Unlike his father, he hated being stuck inside when he could be doing something more fun. Like playing _outside_ , for example. Rain was nice to fall asleep to; waking up to it was another matter!

Jaming looked up from his newspaper. "Don't play with your food, Isaac."

Isaac, who had taken another spoonful of oatmeal and was preparing to drop it back into the bowl, thought better of it and forced himself to choke down another mouthful. Normally he liked oatmeal, but the rain had taken away his appetite. "It's not fair...It's _Saturday!_ I don't even have school! What am I supposed to do if I can't go out and play?"

Meredith, his mother, poured some milk on her own bowl of oatmeal. "Do you have any homework? You could work on that."

Isaac wrinkled his nose. "I did it last night. Daddy checked it. The math is _hard_ , though."

She smiled sympathetically. "Math always gave me trouble, too."

Jaming turned the page of his newspaper and munched on a piece of toast. "He did very well, though. Isaac, would you like to help me in the garage today?"

"Uhhh..." the boy avoided his father's eyes and focused on his bowl. "I have a hangnail, and I don't wanna get all dirty and get it 'inspected'."

"Did you mean 'infected'?" Jaming asked.

"Yeah, that too," the boy smiled, showing the gap where his two front teeth had recently fallen out.

Jaming chuckled and reached over to ruffle his son's blue hair. "Silly."

Isaac lightly batted his father's hand away, giggling. " _Daddy!_ You're makin' my hair all spiky!"

Feigning indignance, Jaming drew himself up and folded his arms. "And _what,_ may I ask, is wrong with spiky hair?" His own hair was quite wild and spiky, and no amount of combing would ever make it lie down. As a result of constant teasing on that and many other aspects of his appearance, he had grown it out as a teenager in a display of defiance. Now he was so used to it that he decided to keep it that way.

"Nothin'. Daddy, can I play in the attic today?"

Jaming shrugged, looking over at Meredith to see what she thought. There wasn't anything dangerous up there, but there _were_ a few keepsakes that they wanted to keep in good condition. Isaac was usually a careful boy, however.

Meredith looked out the window as the rain picked up, and she shivered unconsciously at the thought of going out in that weather. She no longer owned a shop table on Cap's boat, because the boat was no longer there. The old sailor had retired a year ago, sold his boat, and was now living with his new wife, Granny Rosa. Meredith had opened a small clothing shop in the rapidly growing town, and nothing short of a monsoon would be able keep her from working. Unfortunately, this meant that inclement weather wouldn't get her out of anything and she would have to walk to work soon, and she wasn't looking forward to it. "I don't see why not. Jaming, why don't you see if you can find something interesting for him to pass the time with?"

Jaming had hoped that Isaac might want to build something with him in the garage, but he didn't have any solid plans, so it wasn't difficult for him to switch gears. "I'll bet that's where I put my old acoustic guitar."

"What's 'acoustic', Daddy?" Isaac pushed away his half-full bowl of oatmeal.

"Come on, I'll show you." Jaming took his napkin from his lap, wiped his mouth, and got up from the table.

"Are you two finished eating?" asked Meredith.

"Yes," Jaming lightly brushed her cheek with the back of his index finger. "Just leave it, I'll take care of the dishes."

"No, I'll do it," she kissed him and gave Isaac a hug. "You boys have fun! I want to see if the rain will let up if I wait a bit."

"I don't blame you!" laughed her husband, leading the way to the attic. "Come on, Isaac."

* * *

"Whew!" Jaming surveyed the attic with a critical eye.

"What?" Isaac looked up at his father, unsure why the blue-skinned man looked so surprised.

Jaming wiped a finger along the window sill and showed Isaac the dust. "It seems your mother and I remember to clean every room _but_ the attic. How embarrassing!"

The boy giggled before trotting forward and picking up an old cardboard shoe box. Something rattled inside, and he brought it to his father. "What's in here?"

"Hmm..." Jaming took the box and flipped up the lid, then his eyebrows shot up in delighted surprise. "Oh!"

"Is it candy?" Isaac looked hopeful. He couldn't think of a better unexpected find than a forgotten candy stash!

"Heh, no..." Jaming plucked a small, rectangular object from the box and held it out. It was a tape, the kind that fit into a handheld video camera. "One might argue that this is even better."

Isaac took the tape and read the label out loud to himself. "Umm...'Pau: In-ter-views. #1.' I don't get it. What're you talkin' about?"

" _Memories,_ my boy. I'm talking about memories, the kind that shouldn't be forgotten," Jaming put the tape back into the box and plugged in an old television. He wiped the dust from the screen, turned the TV on, and popped the tape into the VCR. "A few months before you were born, Uncle Pau found an old video camera on one of the shop boats and bought it, along with some tapes. The camera, unfortunately, was not in working order, so he brought it to me."

"Did you fix it?"

"Yes," Jaming hit the rewind button, and the VCR made a loud whirring sound. "And Pau spent the next year or so keeping a video diary of sorts. When he finally got bored with it, he asked me if I would hold on to the tapes for safe keeping. Sometimes the water rises and gets into his cave, you see. I forgot these tapes were up here."

Isaac nodded, trying not to look bored. He supposed watching home movies was better than staring out the window at the gray sky and slushy sand! He watched his father pull up an old trunk and dust it off, and the two of them sat down to watch.


	2. Chapter 2: Surprise

"Pau's Lost Tapes"

 _Author's Note:_ _Chapters will start out with Isaac and Jaming watching, then will change perspective to focus on the tapes before closing with the two of them discussing what they watched._

"Chapter 2: Surprise"

Pau's voice, sounding a bit more high-pitched than Isaac was used to hearing it, came from the still-dark TV screen. "Umm...I can't see anything."

"Try taking the lens cap off," replied Jaming's voice.

Isaac looked up at his father, grinning. "Daddy, you're on TV!"

"Mm-hmm," Jaming nodded, grinning back as the screen lightened to reveal a blurry shape of light and dark blue. There was a whirring sound, and as the image faded into focus Jaming was a little surprised at how young he looked on the screen. This tape was nearly eight years old, and even though Jaming hadn't changed much over the years, he was briefly startled to see himself without a single gray hair. Not that he was in danger of going completely gray anytime soon, but he had recently begun to find the odd silver strand hidden among the blue. He absently ran a hand through his wild mane, leaned forward to turn up the volume, and sat back to watch.

* * *

"Okay, now, say something," Pau directed as he vaulted up onto a stool and trained the camera on Jaming, who stood beside what appeared to be a banged-up floating platform.

Jaming held a wrench, which he began to toss nervously from one hand to the other. "Like what?"

"Umm..."

The silence stretched on long enough to become awkward. Rolling his eyes, Jaming turned back to his platform and opened a panel, the upper half of his body disappearing inside of it as he began to tinker with the platform's innards. His voice echoed off the metal as he spoke with a touch of annoyance, "Maybe you should make a list of questions before you decide to interview people."

"Aww...Come out of there! That's rude! I don't wanna talk to your _butt!_ " Pau grumbled.

From somewhere behind Pau, Meredith burst out laughing. The image on the screen jolted as Pau fumbled the camera, nearly dropping it. There was a dull, metallic ' _clang_ ' and an ' _ow_ ' as Jaming bumped his head.

"Oh, hi Meredith," Pau turned and the camera focused on a human female. The woman had reddish-brown hair, which she wore gathered back in a ponytail. She was a couple inches shorter than Jaming (though she appeared even shorter than that due to how much taller Jaming's hair made him appear), and her belly was growing round with her advancing pregnancy. "Didn't hear you come in."

"Yes, I see that," Meredith covered her mouth to stifle another laugh, and the camera followed her as she made her way to Jaming, who was scowling and rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry, hon. Didn't mean to startle ya."

Jaming's scowl smoothed out as she kissed him on the cheek, and he set his wrench down on a nearby tarp. "No lasting harm done. I have brain cells to spare."

"So, what are you boys up to?" she asked as she sat down on a nearby bench.

"Jaming finally fixed this camera, so I thought I'd bug him with it for a while. Hey, I know! Why don't I interview _both_ of you?"

Jaming didn't seem very enthusiastic, but when Meredith gave him a questioning look, he shrugged and sat down beside her. "All right. What would you like to ask us?"

"Umm..." Pau's fingers were heard tapping on the metal tabletop before he saw Jaming growing impatient once more. "So, when you two met, was it 'love at first sight'?"

Jaming looked at Meredith. Meredith looked at Jaming. And, at the same time, they began to laugh before shaking their heads. "No!"

"Let's be honest; I don't think _any_ woman could look at someone with my features and immediately fall in love," Jaming said, a tad ruefully.

Meredith nudged his arm. "It still _happened,_ though, didn't it?"

"It did, yes," Jaming wasn't looking directly at her, or at the camera. Apparently, the thought of his image and voice being recorded made him uncomfortable.

"And what about _you?_ " Pau asked, "I don't know much about what humans look for in a mate, but I heard people call her 'pretty'. You didn't look at Meredith and...?"

"I...wasn't in a good place at the time." Jaming looked like he regretted agreeing to this interview. "So, I wouldn't have noticed such things. Though I _did_ notice later..."

Seeming to pick up on his discomfort, Pau changed the subject a little, "Um, okay. How did you two meet up?"

Jaming opened his mouth to answer, but Meredith beat him to it, wearing a mischievous little smirk on her face. "Oh, he was screaming at me to keep away from his broken machine. _And_ he took my sandwich."

Now it was Jaming's turn to nudge Meredith. "Um, _excuse_ you? I took _half_ of your sandwich because you _offered_ it to me. I'm not _that_ much of an ogre."

Meredith snickered, one hand resting on her pregnant belly. "He really isn't," she told Pau, "I just happened to catch him on a bad day."

"And I didn't exactly make the best first impression," Jaming smiled sadly. "So, technically, it wasn't even ' _like_ at first sight'. It was really _my_ fault, not hers."

"How did you two get to be friends, then?"

Jaming brightened a little as the interview focused on a topic he actually liked. "Well, I recognized her when I went into town to buy supplies, but I didn't speak to her right away."

"Shy?" Pau sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

"Something like that...I regretted the way I spoke to her before. But we struck up a conversation, and she let me borrow some tools from her. I don't know, things just went on from there. I think we _really_ began to be friends when we were building this garage." Jaming reached behind himself and patted the wall before folding his hands. "A lot of conversations over a pitcher of lemonade. Despite our differences, we ended up having a lot in common. Though I was never clear about why you approached me in the first place, Meredith."

She shrugged, placing her hand over his folded ones. "You seemed like you needed someone to talk to. Then I realized I actually _liked_ talking to you. I can't even pinpoint when I started loving you, because it happened so gradually."

"Yes...with me, it was the same. I do know when I _realized_ it, though. It was after you were attacked by those cave bats, and I thought I'd lost you..."

"Ahem!" Pau loudly cleared his throat to remind them that he was still there. Jaming and Meredith jumped, then laughed and shifted awkwardly. "So, you think you two will get married?"

They both looked _very_ uncomfortable now, and Meredith touched her belly again. Too late, Pau seemed to remember that humans had certain traditions that dictated the order in which things should happen, and he tried to switch gears again. "Never mind, I think that's..."

Jaming shook his head, answering the question anyway. "It's all right. We've been discussing that, actually. I...I want to give her a nice wedding. But at the moment...finances...well..."

Meredith smiled, but it was a sad smile. "We're together regardless. We don't have to get married just to please my mother."

"It _isn't_ for your mother, Meredith. It's for _you._ " Jaming's right hand was in his pocket, and Pau noticed this at once.

"What's that?" A furry hand came into view, pointing at Jaming's hip.

"My leg," Jaming replied, deliberately being obtuse.

"There's something in your pocket..."

"Yes. My hand." Jaming removed his hand from his pocket and stood up. "I should really get back to work, Pau."

The camera zoomed in on Jaming as he walked away, showing that there was a small _something_ in his pocket. Whatever it was, it appeared to be in the shape of a cube. A box, perhaps?

Meredith's hand came into frame, and she waved it back and forth, causing Pau to jump a little.

"Oh! Sorry. So, I guess that's it. Do you guys have anything to say before I turn the camera off?"

"No," came Jaming's voice from somewhere else in the room.

Meredith smiled at her boyfriend's grumpy response before shaking her head. "I can't think of anything. I just came by to tell Jaming it's nearly lunchtime. Otherwise, he'll forget to eat."

Jaming's face, or rather the left half of it, filled the screen as he contradicted her. "I don't _forget_ to eat! I just get busy and put it off until later."

"Uh-huh. 'Later' as in 'until dinner time'?" Meredith's hand came into frame, pushing Jaming's face out of it and replacing it with her own. "He does it all the time."

"Oh, you _are_ looking for trouble!" Jaming sounded playful now.

"Oh?" Meredith returned as the two of them moved away, both of them unaware that Pau was still taping them. "And what kind of trouble am I looking for?"

" _This_ kind!" Jaming grabbed Meredith and began to tickle her neck. While she laughed and struggled to get away, a small black box fell out of his pocket, and he immediately let go of her to retrieve it. "Oh!"

Meredith didn't ask, but he knew she had spotted it, and he didn't bother trying to hide it.

Pau pointed again. "Is that what I think it is?"

Jaming sighed, looking at his closed hand and the tiny bit of visible black velvet. "Well..." He looked at Meredith, shook his head, and gave a rueful chuckle. "This isn't the way I'd planned to do this. It was just going to be the two of us. I had this whole speech in mind. It was a _good_ one, too. Candle-lit dinner. I was waiting for the right moment."

Meredith was clearly excited, but was visibly containing it. She actually seemed to feel _bad_ about this accident, and how it had spoiled his surprise. "Then hold on to it until the moment _is_ right. I can wait."

Jaming looked at Meredith, looked at the box in his hand, then put his other hand to his forehead and laughed. "All those things...the candle-lit dinner, the speech, all of it...they would have just been my attempt at trying to make _myself_ look good. I was going for the _elaborate_. I wanted to impress you."

"Jaming, you _do_ impress me," Meredith told him, shaking her head with a loving smile. "I don't _need_ elaborate gestures."

"But you _deserve_ them," he turned to her and took her hand. "You deserve the world on a silver platter. And I can't give you that. There isn't much I _can_ give you."

"You've given me plenty," she replied, both of them seemingly forgetting about Pau. "You gave me this baby. And the best year of my life."

Jaming seemed to draw courage from this, and he got down on one knee and opened the box to reveal a small diamond ring. It wasn't a spectacular piece of jewelry; he couldn't afford that. Between buying the supplies needed to build a house and putting aside money for their child, it was a wonder he was able to buy it at all. It was clear from the joyful expression on Meredith's face that the quality of the ring meant absolutely nothing to her, and what she _really_ cared about was the man who presented it to her. "Will you be my wife?"

" _Yes!_ "

The image jittered up and down as Pau bounced in his seat, but it was still steady enough to show Jaming slipping the ring on Meredith's finger before getting to his feet and embracing her. The young Moon Person could contain himself no longer, and he whistled loudly through his teeth before yelling, "Woooo! Kiss! _Kiss!_ "

Jaming whipped around, remembering Pau's presence, but Meredith seized his face between her hands and kissed him squarely on the mouth.

The camera angle turned, and Pau's face filled the screen. "And there you have it, folks! I better get out of here before things get _weird._ "

Jaming's voice began to say, "Things aren't going to-" before the screen went dark.

* * *

"Were you mad at Pau?" Isaac looked up at his father. Jaming was leaning slightly forward, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin cupped in his hands, smiling goofily at the blank screen.

Snapping out of his nostalgia, Jaming sat up a little bit straighter. "Huh? No, of course not. Why would I have been mad at him?"

"He ruined your surprise, didn't he?

"Mm, I suppose. But maybe that _was_ the right moment. I might have waited and waited for a long time before asking your mother to marry me, if something hadn't come along and given me a little 'goose' to get me going." Jaming hit the 'eject' button, and the VCR spit out the tape. "Well! What do you think? You bored yet?"

Isaac shook his head and began rifling through the box of tapes. "Let's watch another one."


End file.
